Lifetimes
by Crystalized Flowers
Summary: Iku always finds himself at the same place. It's a quiet park with a sakura tree as its centerpiece, where he had first met his soulmate in his last lifetime. Soulmate AU. Iku/Rui.


**A/N:** 'Cause I'm a sucker for Soulmate AUs... and because I've recently submerged myself in the Tsukiuta fandom and the Iku/Rui ship, here's another one-shot from me...

I should really be working on the second chapter of Bloody Roses and revising the first one... oops.

The two prompts used will be posted at the bottom like always for my prompt fics.

Note that this is a reincarnation Soulmate AU.

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 **~~Lifetimes~~**

 **by Crystalized Flowers**

Iku always finds himself at the same place.

It's a quiet park with a sakura tree blooming in the middle of it, tucked into a small suburban neighborhood in Japan's countryside. He had first found it when he was visiting his grandparents as a child. Both him and his older sister had been attracted to it. His sister, of course, had been attracted to the sturdy metal swings colored in chipped green paint and violet plastic slide that she had refused to leave when their grandmother came to take them home.

Iku, on the other hand, was attracted to the park for a different reason. A reason that even he didn't know. As a child, he didn't question the feeling. He just indulged in it. Soon, his whole family knew that the park near their grandparents' house was the Kannaduki siblings' new favorite place.

Eventually, his sister grew out of the feeling. Iku never did.

He visited the park every chance he got. Then, when he had been around the age of eight, something strange happened to Iku on his normal trip to the park.

He had been sitting on one of the swings with chipped green paint, simply watching the younger children from the neighborhood laugh and romp around in the sandbox. There was another child closer to his age sitting on top of the slide, a boy with green hair who came almost as often as he did. It was spring and the few sakura trees around the area were in full bloom. The sun was beginning to set and as a mother came to call her child for dinner, Iku decided that he should probably return home as well. As he made to stand up, he was suddenly whisked away from reality, and his head was invaded by memories that were not his.

He was in the same area, that much he could tell. Except, the memory was from before the park was even built. The neighborhood that his grandparents lived in wasn't there, and instead, the area was a small scenic site for sakura trees. Not many bloomed, so it was a quiet and peaceful area, where people could watch the few sakura trees in bloom.

He remembers that the person who's memory he was viewing was much older than him, around his early twenties. He had paused to watch one of the trees during his morning jog. He had been jogging past this area every day on his morning jog in the past few weeks and he smiled as he noticed that the sakura tree, the centerpiece of the park in Iku's time, was beginning to bloom. Then, his attention had been caught by a difference in his daily routine.

For some reason, Iku could never remember the face of the person who had caught the owner of the memory's attention no matter how many times he experienced the memory, but he remembered the memory owner being mesmerized by a young man who had been painting the blossoming cherry blossoms.

The first time Iku had experienced this memory, it had ended there. He was brought back to reality when he heard a young mother asking him if he was alright. She and her son, the quiet green haired boy around the same age as him with curious brown eyes, had been hovering over him, extremely concerned because the child had suddenly fainted in the middle of the park. Iku had blinked in surprise at finding himself on the ground, and had shakily stood up, feeling disoriented. After reassuring the young woman that he was alright multiple times, he allowed her to bring him back to his grandparents' house. He didn't even need to tell her the address, since everyone knew each other in the neighborhood. One look at him, and she was whisking him off in the direction of his house. Her son said nothing throughout the whole entire trip, walking silently behind his mother and Iku. Iku said nothing either, trying to come to terms with the memories he had seen.

When they had arrived, his grandmother had thanked this "Minaduki-san" profusely before she and her child headed home. Iku had been feeling too dizzy to eat dinner and all of his usual energy had been sucked out of him, instead preferring to lie on his bed in his room, doing his best to remember the face if the young artist. Why did remembering feel so important to him?

"Iku." He looked up as his grandmother entered the room, shutting the door quietly behind her. He immediately moved over slightly to make room for her as she sat on the bed, watching him with a kind and slightly concerned smile. She reached out, smoothing his spiky brown hair. "Is there something wrong? You've been awfully quiet since you came back. Usually, you would be restless."

He bit his lip, unsure of whether or not he should tell his grandmother his strange experience. But the importance of the experience overwhelmed him, and he poured out the memory. There was just something about it that told him that it would play a big role in his life.

After he was done, his grandmother had pursed her lips quietly. She glanced down at her hands, where a metal wedding ring surrounded her left ring finger, than back at Iku. He kept quiet, waiting for what she had to say.

"Iku." She started finally. "You know how soulmates work in this world, right? People are reincarnated every time they die and in the each life, they have to find their soulmate again to be truly happy. Some soulmates have never found each other in any of their lives, and others have found each other in every single one. But soulmates are an added bonus in our lives. You don't need your soulmate to be happy. Your mother and father aren't soulmates, and they're happy with you, right?"

Iku nodded, though he remained uncharacteristically quiet.

"When you first introduce yourself to your soulmate and you two reveal your names to each other, your worlds will become black and white. All the color in your world will disappear. But that just means that you are willing to give up all the color in your life for your soulmate. I gave up seeing my grandson in color for my husband, but I wouldn't change it for the world." She smiled softly, patting Iku's chocolate brown hair which she could only see through grays.

"However, there are rare instances in the world where some memories of your soulmate in your past life can be triggered by going to the place where you and your soulmate first introduced yourselves to each other in a former life. This is really rare, and only a few instances have been reported. But those who have this occur to them are really lucky, aren't they, Iku? After all, they have a higher chance of finding their soulmate." His grandmother smiled again, and this time, her smile was large and fond. Her eyes seemed a bit sparkly with tears as she watched her youngest grandchild. _Go on, Iku. Find your own happiness._

And Iku understood.

He always found time to visit his grandparents every few months, stealing away to the park at every chance he got. His grandmother allowed him, watching after him with a small smile. Even as he grew older, and as he entered high school. Two of his classmates were soulmates, and envy caused a lot of people to scramble around, introducing themselves to everyone they met. Iku had a feeling though. His soulmate wouldn't be someone from his school.

His guess was correct. Soon, everything would change.

He returns to the cherry blossoms again right before the beginning of second year. It is late March, and the sakura trees had bloomed early that year. He walks purposefully towards the centerpiece tree and sits under it, closing his eyes to give the illusion of sleeping so that no one would question his unconscious state.

The memories resume. Over the years, he had began gaining different parts of the same memory. Sometimes, it would be when the young artist had first caught his past self's attention, sometimes he would simply be watching the young artist, and sometimes, Iku would find himself approaching him and having a conversation with his soulmate, carefully trying to remember the way the artist's soft voice formed the words he spoke instead of futile attempts at remembering his face.

 _"Your drawing is amazing!" The artist startled slightly at the sudden exclamation. The small smile disappeared from his face and his face goes blank, but his voice is soft when he speaks._

 _"Thank you."_

 _"Are you a professional artist? You're really good!" It was impressive how the artist managed to capture a perfect angle of the sakura tree to make his painting interesting._

 _"I have never seen this type of tree before." The artist replied innocently. "I thought that it would be nice to paint."_

 _"I-is that so?" How could he not know what cherry blossoms are?! "_ _Well-"_

Iku opens his eyes again, sighing internally, a bit disappointed. That was where the memory he got this time ended. For some reason, he never gets past that point in his memories. Perhaps that was all of the memory that he had?

He stands up after his nausea from experiencing the memory subsides, ready to head back to his grandparents' house. He had learned from experience that he only experienced a single memory each time he visited the park. There was no reason to stay around any longer.

He stretches out his muscles that had fallen asleep in the time he was remembering. Maybe he could get a jog in before he had to return for dinner?

As he is about to leave, he hears a soft voice from the other side of the sakura tree. "Ah, again."

Iku freezes.

Normally, he would let this slide. There were other people in the park after all. But the voice... that voice sounded exactly like the artist's voice from his memories.

He whips around just in time to see a lanky green haired teen emerge from behind the tree, looking like he had just woken up from a nap. He could faintly remember him, Minaduki-san's son from all those years ago.

The other male glances at him due to Iku's sudden movement. Their eyes meet, but they don't speak to each other. There is something about the male that draws him in. He sees him in a new light, in a way he has never seen another person. He is beautiful to him, mesmerizing. His eyes are a lighter shade than Iku's, a tan color that hides most of its emotions within its depths, but revealed innocence. His hair is a grayish green color, endearingly messy and a bit long, with several locks reaching past his shoulders. He's pale and rather skinny and Iku can tell by the bandages that he also could be scarred in a few places, but for some reason, Iku finds himself completely entranced.

Iku can't let this chance go. "H-hey-"

"Rui!" Both teens turn to see an older man waving in their direction. He has short windswept light brown hair and sparkling, cheerful azure eyes. "I'm done with work! Let's go home!"

"Mm. Coming, Kai." The green haired teen raises his voice slightly so that Kai can hear him, and with one last glance at Iku, he heads off in the direction of the other man.

Iku can't get the other male out of his mind. He twists and turns on his bed that night, unable to fall asleep. His mind is whirling. Could it be that the reincarnation of the artist was Minaduki Rui? The one that he had been searching for all this time?

His soulmate?

The next day is the day before his second year of high school starts and before he and his family take the train back to their home, Iku runs off in the direction of the park.

"Iku!" His mother calls after him, but he ignores her as he dashes off. She sighs. "That kid. He has too much energy. Where's he going anyways? What's so important that he has to rush off like that?"

His grandmother smiles, a bit mysteriously, as she raises her cup of tea to her lips. "It must be important. To Iku at least, it's life-changing."

Her daughter-in-law glances at her with a confused look, but says nothing in reply, instead opting to call her daughter downstairs for breakfast.

Iku is assaulted by a memory the moment he reaches the park. He manages to stumble to the sakura tree before the memory fully overwhelms him.

The memory is shorter than any he had had before, but it's the most important one yet to Iku.

 _"What's your name?"_

 _"Ah, I'm-"_

The names dissipate in the wind for Iku and he can't hear what his past self's name is, nor his past soulmate's. However, it seems that they can hear each other's names and they smile at each other as their worlds turn monochrome.

Iku is jerked back into reality, and as soon as he can stand on his own two feet again, he smiles, relief flooding him.

His hunt has ended.

...

"So, you're the last member of Procellarum, hmm?" A snow white haired male with a mysterious smile says. "Not bad. I'm Shimotsuki Shun and you are?"

"Kannaduki Iku." He smiles in response. "Nice to meet you, Shun-san."

Shun pauses for a moment, but then the mysterious smile returns to his face. "Not my soulmate, huh? Well, I thought so. After all, I can tell by your eyes." Iku is a bit surprised as Shun leans in. "You already know who your soulmate is, don't you?"

Iku doesn't have a chance to reply because the other members of Procellarum come over. Kai briefly describes Iku's appearance in color, which causes Iku to quickly find out that You and Yoru are soulmates, as they can't see him in anything but black and white. Kai smiles amiably at him, not seeming to remember him, though Iku is quite surprised to see him. Kai is the big-brother type, he figures out when the blue-eyed man begins scolding Shun lightly for creeping Iku out by invading his personal space. Yoru introduces himself with a kind smile before heading off to prepare dinner, You flashing a cheerful one as he follows his soulmate to the kitchen. But that all fades into the background for Iku.

His gaze is focused on the green-haired male in front of him, who he had not seen since that spring at the park. Rui gazes back at him and they manage to exchange thoughts before they even speak.

 _You sure? You can still turn back now. You can find someone else instead of being bonded to your soulmate by fate._

 _I'm sure. I wouldn't want it any other way._

Iku smiles, a bright cheerful smile that radiates happiness. Rui returns a small one, innocent and sweet. They approach each other slowly and Iku stretches out his hand.

"Hi, I'm Kannaduki Iku. And you are?"

"Minaduki Rui. Nice to meet you, Ikkun," is the soft reply.

The color of the world around them begins to fade, and soon everything is devoid of color. But when Rui takes his hand, Iku knows. He is with his soulmate of many lifetimes.

And he wouldn't have it any other way.

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 **A/N:** Prompt by silent peaches on tumblr: You keep going to this place, and you always notice another person here too. Neither of you know that this is the place where the both of you had died/first met in the past life.

Also includes this prompt by the same person: Reverse colors AU where you can see in color but once you meet/marry your soulmate your world turns black and white, this is how people can tell that married couples really love each other because they're willing to give up a world of colors for their soulmate. If your soulmate dies you get to see color again.

I added a bit to this prompt. So basically, this is a Soulmate AU where you can trigger some memories of your soulmate in your past life by going to the place that you first met your soulmate. This is a rare occurrence and helps people find their soulmate because normal soulmates in this AU find each other by seeing the world in black and white the first time they introduce yourselves to each other. They see it in color before and when they are just talking and don't know each other's names yet.

I added some irony here, XD. I thought that it would be funny if Rui's past self was a genius painter since Rui sucks at drawing.

Mmm, my thoughts on this one-shot? I loved the idea, and I think I did better on this than I did on Rainy Season. It's better paced, in my opinion.

Did everyone like it? Please leave a review!

~Crystal


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